December 14, 2019

You knew this was coming: Trump May Skip 2020 Debates

Will Trump Debate a Democrat in 2020? He’s Not So Sure.

WASHINGTON — President Trump is discussing with his advisers the possibility of sitting out the general election debates in 2020 because of his misgivings about the commission that oversees them, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Mr. Trump has told advisers that he does not trust the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit entity that sponsors the debates, the two people said.

Less of a concern for Mr. Trump than who will emerge as the Democratic nominee is which media personality will be chosen as the debate moderator, according to people in contact with him.

At a state-of-the-race campaign briefing in Arlington, Va., the president’s advisers declined to comment on what their plan was for the debates. One senior adviser to the president seemed to wince at the question, and said it was not something advisers were prepared to discuss until next year.

In the 2016 general election debates, Mr. Trump repeatedly complained about being at a disadvantage to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. And the post-debate polls showed Mr. Trump had good reason to be concerned: Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton were essentially tied in the polls going into the first debate, but she received a bump after each of the three face-to-face matchups.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/us/politics/trump-presidential-debate-democrat.html

Misgivings about the debates commission my ass!

December 14, 2019

538: Biden, a consistent poll performance.

Other candidates may have had their ups and downs, but you can draw a ruler on Joe Biden's national poll performance since August.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/national/

December 5, 2019

What has Elizabeth done with her hair?

and why? All those people with selfies won't be happy.

EDIT: Yes I have a thing about hair. I notice how much Bernie and Pete are combing forward. I notice if dump has put off dying his hair. I always noticed when Obama had got a cut. If I see a picture of Bill, his hair gives me notice as to where he was in his career when it was taken.

But the point I was making is that the people with selfies will some some distance between the person they are seeing on the screen, and the photos / memories they have of meeting Senator Warren. I am over reacting no doubt, but that was my first take.

https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1202458329152475136

December 5, 2019

The Impeachment hearing today - Your Thoughts?

What do fellow DU'ers think about what we heard today? The bottom Line?

And thanking BumRushDaShow for her great job managing the threads!

December 4, 2019

OK - First four states, 5m population, or less, which would you choose

and which two go first? I'm fine with NV and SC as 3rd and 4th.

December 3, 2019

Dow drops 400 points, biggest fall in 2 months, after Trump says he could wait on China deal

Source: CNBC

U.S. equities sank on Tuesday after President Donald Trump suggested he may want to delay a trade deal with China until after the 2020 presidential election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points in morning trading, led lower by trade-vulnerable Apple, Caterpillar and 3M. The S&P 500 slid 1% amid losses in chip stocks like Nvidia, Micron and Advanced Micro Devices. The Nasdaq Composite also lost 1%.

Markets hit the lows of their day after Fox News reported that the White House still plans on moving ahead with scheduled Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods notwithstanding recent efforts at a “phase one” trade truce.

“In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right,” Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday. When asked if he had a deal deadline, he added: “I have no deadline, no ... In some ways, I think it is better to wait until after the election if you want to know the truth.”


Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/03/stock-market-wall-street-in-focus-amid-south-america-trade-tariffs.html

December 3, 2019

The Hill: Trump campaign steps up attacks on Biden

Trump campaign steps up attacks on Biden

(snip) Trump campaign officials spent the weekend circulating Biden’s latest campaign trail foibles, led by a goofy moment of the former vice president nipping at his wife’s fingers on stage at a campaign rally.

(snip) Separately, the Trump campaign attacked Biden for dubbing his latest Iowa swing the “No Malarkey” tour, describing the term as outdated and indicative of a campaign that has run out of ideas.

(snip) While the attacks from Trump allies have sought to convince voters that Biden is a weak candidate in decline, the focus on the former vice president also appears to underscore views in some Trump circles that Biden could be a strong challenger — particularly in the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that were the keys to the president’s 2016 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump insiders told The Hill that they’d continue to focus their attacks on Biden for the time being, as most still view him as the likeliest Democrat to win the nomination and the most competitive in a one-on-one match-up against the president.

“He’s still the front-runner and the likeliest to win the nomination,” said one former Trump campaign official. “And I think of all the Democrats, he’s still the most likely to have a competitive race against Trump. Of course, that comes with the massive asterisk that he could totally implode at any moment.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/472663-trump-campaign-steps-up-attacks-on-biden

December 2, 2019

Joe Biden's stump speech

October 31, 2019

Why aren't more younger voters turning up to hear this?

December 1, 2019

Whistleblower in New Orleans hotel collapse is deported to Honduras

Source: The Guardian

A Honduran construction worker injured during the Hard Rock hotel collapse in New Orleans was deported by US immigration authorities on Friday, his lawyers confirmed.

Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma had reported potentially dangerous lapses in construction safety to his supervisors before the collapse, according to lawyers working on his immigration case and a civil complaint filed by Ramirez Palma and several other workers against hotel developers.

The collapse on 12 October killed three people and injured dozens. The bodies of two victims are still inside the half-crumbled remains of the 18-storey structure in downtown New Orleans. Developers are working with city officials to finalise plans to demolish the rest of the building.

Immediately after the accident, Ramirez Palma was interviewed by the local Spanish-language media outlet Jambalaya News. Two days later he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), while fishing with his family in a national wildlife refuge, because he lacked identification documents.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/30/whistleblower-in-new-orleans-hotel-collapse-is-deported-to-honduras

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December 1, 2019

Mark Penn (HarrisX, Harvard Harris) advising Trump on impeachment

(Re: Primaries) Harris polls are untrustworthy as the man himself, and his sidekick, Scott Rasmussen.

Former Clinton strategist Mark Penn counsels President Trump on impeachment

As President Trump’s White House battles impeachment, he turned to a familiar face last week: Mark Penn, one of President Bill Clinton’s top strategists.

Penn visited the Oval Office for more than an hour last Monday, three people familiar with the meeting said, and provided polling data and impeachment advice for the president. Penn reassured Trump that he would not be removed from office, according to people familiar with the meeting, and encouraged him to travel the country as Clinton did when he was fighting impeachment over 20 years ago, officials said.

Vice President Pence and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway were present for the meeting. Penn was escorted by Andrew Stein, a longtime Trump friend from New York who recently wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley to replace Pence on the 2020 election ticket.

(snip) In a brief interview, Penn said repeatedly that he was not working for Trump. “It’s the second time I have ever met with the president. I’m not counseling him. I’m not advising him.” Penn said he discussed with Trump only publicly available data but declined to be specific on his advice. “I don’t get into presidential meetings.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-strategist-mark-penn-counsels-president-trump-on-impeachment/2019/11/26/e7b29cd4-1075-11ea-a533-90a7becf7713_story.html

I’m not counseling him. I’m not advising him - translation: we talk every day. weasel.